KARACHI: An accountability court on Monday reissued non-bailable warrant for the arrest of the former federal minister for ports and shipping and leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Babar Ghauri in a reference pertaining to alleged corruption of Rs2.8 billion in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT).

Then federal minister Ghauri, the then chairman of the KPT Javed Hanif, Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, Mohammad Iqbal and others have been booked in a reference relating to alleged corruption through illegal regularisation of 940 employees of the KPT.

The National Accountability Bureau filed a reference against eight suspects, including Babar Ghauri and others, for allegedly illegally regularising KPT employees and causing losses to the tune of Rs2.8bn to the national exchequer.

On Monday, the matter was fixed before the accountability court-II, when four suspects — including Mr Farooqui, Mr Iqbal and others — appeared on bail while two detained suspects — including Javed Hanif — were also produced.

The investigating officer informed that the non-bailable warrant issued by the court for the arrest of absconding ex-minister Ghauri could not be executed because he was out of the country reportedly since 2015. He further mentioned that there was likelihood of him being arrested in the near future, thus asked the court to pass appropriate orders.

Judge Aaliya Latif Unar reissued the non-bailable warrant for the absconding suspect and directed the IO to produce him before the court on Oct 18. The judge observed that in case the absconding suspect did not surrender or was not arrested till the next date, his matter might be bifurcated from the rest of the suspects so that trial against them could proceed.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2018